Tulum Municipality ( es, Municipio de Tulum, ) is one of the eleven municipalities that make up the Mexican

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Quintana Roo Quintana Roo ( , ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Quintana Roo ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Quintana Roo), is one of the 31 states which, with Mexico City, constitute the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into 11 mu ...

. It became a municipality when it was formed on 13 March 2008, at which time it was separated from Solidaridad Municipality. Tulum is home to the

Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a populat ...

archaeological sites of

Tulum Tulum (, yua, Tulu'um) is the site of a pre-Columbian Mayan walled city which served as a major port for Coba, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The ruins are situated on cliffs along the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula on the Caribb ...

and

Cobá Coba ( es, Cobá) is an ancient Maya city on the Yucatán Peninsula, located in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The site is the nexus of the largest network of stone causeways of the ancient Maya world, and it contains many engraved and scul ...

Geography

The municipality of Tulum borders the municipalities of

Solidaridad The Solidaridad Network is an international civil society organisation founded in 1969. Its main objective is facilitating the development of socially responsible, ecologically sound and profitable supply chains. It operates through eight regio ...

to the north and

Felipe Carrillo Puerto Felipe Carrillo Puerto (8 November 1874 – 3 January 1924) was a Mexican journalist, politician and revolutionary who became known for his efforts at reconciliation between the Yucatec Maya and the Mexican government after the Caste War. He ...

to the south, in the state of

. It also borders

Chemax Municipality Chemax Municipality (, in the Yucatec Maya Language: “monkey's tree”) is one of the 106 municipalities in the Mexican state of Yucatán containing 1,098.6 km2 of land and located roughly 185 km east of the city of Mérida. Histor ...

and Valladolid Municipality in the state of

Yucatán Yucatán (, also , , ; yua, Yúukatan ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Yucatán,; yua, link=no, Xóot' Noj Lu'umil Yúukatan. is one of the 31 states which comprise the political divisions of Mexico, federal entities of Mexico. I ...

on the northwest, and the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

on the east.

Orography and hydrography

Like most of the Yucatan Peninsula Tulum is entirely flat with a gentle slope towards the sea, so from west to east, the area never reaches an altitude higher than above sea level. The municipality is above sea level on average. Like the rest of the peninsula's surface the land has a

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

base that does not allow the formation of surface water flows such as rivers and streams; the water instead flows in underground rivers that sometimes rise to the surface in the

cenote A cenote ( or ; ) is a natural pit, or sinkhole, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater. The regional term is specifically associated with the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, where cenotes were commonly used for ...

s. Lakes and cenotes are the major bodies of water in the municipality.

Communities

The municipality consists of 170 populated localities, plus an additional 224 unpopulated localities, and includes part of a biosphere reserve (

Sian Ka'an Sian or Siyan may refer to: __NOTOC__ People *Siân, a Welsh girl's name; list of people with this name Places *Sian, Iran (disambiguation), various places in Iran *Sian, Russia, a rural locality in Amur Oblast, Russia *Xi'an, China, formerly roman ...

, which lies mostly in neighboring

Felipe Carrillo Puerto Municipality Felipe Carrillo Puerto (or simply Carrillo Puerto) is a municipality in the south-central part of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The municipal seat is the city of the same name. It was named after the assassinated local politician Felipe Car ...

). The largest localities (cities, towns, and villages) are: Tulum QR.JPG, Tulum Francisco Hu May QR.JPG, Francisco Hu May Macario Gomez QR.JPG, Macario Gomez Manuel Antonio Hay QR.JPG, Manuel Antonio Hay

Demographics

Tulum has 46,721 inhabitants according to the 2020 census, a figure that reflects over five percent annual growth since the last census in 2010. There is an additional 15,000 to 20,000 people living and working in Tulum as part of its floating population. That number rises and falls with the tourist season and is not reflected in the census figures.

References

---- {{Quintana Roo 01 Municipalities of Quintana Roo